


Stellar Evolution

by Inele



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Altean Hunk (Voltron), Altean Lance (Voltron), Altean Pidge | Katie Holt, Altean Shiro (Voltron), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/M, Galra/Altean Keith (Voltron), M/M, Post-War, Prisoner of War, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-12
Updated: 2018-01-22
Packaged: 2018-12-14 15:47:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11786358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inele/pseuds/Inele
Summary: “I don't know what we are supposed to do, Lance. It seemed so clear before the war, didn't it? Destroy the rift, even if it meant to eliminate the entire planet. We destroyed people's homes back then too, we robbed children of their parents and I'm not saying it was easy because it wasn't. But at least we had a plan and we stuck to it. I was so sure that we were the good ones, that we saved people's lives. And now… I just don't know anymore...”Three years ago Zarkon and Allura's father signed a peace treaty. This year the remaining Prisoners of War - including Shiro, Keith and Matt- should have been released.Instead, the Galran Empire is threatening Altea again.





	1. A broken Promise

Lance could see the courtyard when he looked out of the windows in his chambers. He could see tiny figures making their way to the memorial, laying down wreaths or flowers. Dots of color on the cold stone ground. He could not make out their faces but he presumed that they looked happy or at least content. To them this day was the anniversary of peace. It was the day Zarkon had promised to release the last Prisoners of War. It was the day they hoped to be reunited with their loved ones. To Lance it was a day of uncertainty. Three years had gone by since King Alfor and Zarkon had signed the peace treaty. Officially it had been a war without winners but technically… Alfor had agreed to not interfere with the colonization the Galra were practicing on other planets under the condition that they left Altea alone. Lance didn't know whether it had been the weakness of a dying king, the deed of a hopeful pacifist or the kindness of a lost friend. He didn't care. It had been entirely Zarkon's fault that his planet had been destroyed. The man had no right to annex and damage other planets and their inhabitants. Altea was supposedly safe now but the rest of the universe was not. Lance had played to big of a role in this war, had seen to much, to forget that. Those people in the courtyard seemed to be in the process of forgetting. The Alteans were still rebuilding their cities but life had started to be almost ordinary once again. They were resilient people and he knew that they had worked hard to restore the order. Sometimes, in his more bitter moments, Lance longed to be like them. To go back to his simple life, to join his family in the countryside, to work the farm, to be happy and boring and ignorant. Than he would not have to go to Allura's stupid diplomatic meetings, to the discussions with her advisers. Because that was all he did these days. He followed her around like a lost puppy and sometimes people on the streets praised him for playing his part in the war. From hero to … decoration. He looked pretty in Blue, he knew that, but that wasn't what he was born for. That wasn't what any of them were born for. And if he was on edge he didn't want to know how Pidge felt. Her brother was one of the prisoners. So were Shiro and Keith. The promise of their freedom had been the only thing that had kept Lance on his leash for the last three years but he didn't trust Zarkon. Lance shook his head, realizing that he had drummed his finger onto the window board without noticing. He pressed his hands together and turned away from the window. It was almost midday and Allura still hadn't called on him. It couldn't be a good sign. If she had allowed it, he would already have gathered Hunk and Pidge. They would have taken the Lions and they would have flown to wherever Zarkon was currently residing. Diplomatic tactfulness be damned. They had waited long enough and the conditions had never been fair to begin with. And he hated it. He hated every moment of waiting, of wondering whether his friends were still alive and well. He hated hearing about another planet being invaded. He hated being useless.

The knock on his door tore him out of his thoughts. Lance took two long strides and faced the guard standing in the hallway. The man seemed perplexed by his sudden appearance but informed Lance dutifully that he had been summoned to the Queen's audience chamber.

 

*****

>  
> 
> _To her royal Highness, Queen Allura of Altea,_
> 
>  
> 
> _the great Emperor Zarkon hereby wishes to inform your Highness that the Altean guests in his care have sadly burdened the resources of the Galran Empire far beyond reasonable predictions. For compensation the Galran Empire would gladly accept access to information on the production of Altean ships, more precisely the production of the Lions of Voltron. Until an agreement has been reached, the Altean guests are required to continue enjoying Galra's hospitality._
> 
>  
> 
> _On behalf of my father, Emperor Zarkon,_
> 
> _Lotor, Prince of the Galran Empire_

 

“Are they fucking serious?”, Lance felt the urge to do… evil things to this Lotor. “Let us fly to wherever this Lotor - dude is and we will get them back in no time. And as soon as we have Shiro and Keith back we can form Vo...”

“Lance, we cannot. We are in no position to risk another war with the Galra. My father has done everything in his power to ensure peace.”

Lance gazed at Pidge and Hunk who were standing next to him. Pidge's face was pinched and she seemed tense but she hadn't said anything. Hunk looked as if he was moments away from bursting into tears. Lance couldn't really fault them but he would have appreciated some support. In moments like this he really missed Keith's presence. The red paladin almost never agreed with him but Lance was pretty sure that he would have been ready to go and save one of their own, whatever it took.

“But that's not peace! What? We're supposed to be defenders of the universe and now we can't even protect our own people? What are we even here for, Allura? There are only three of us left. We aren't even Voltron anymore.”, his voice cracked on the last syllable and his face felt hot with anger. Somewhere deep down he knew that he shouldn't lash out at his Queen but this was just plain wrong. Allura had honored her father's work long enough. The Galra wouldn't stop until they had the entire universe under their power. They had made that very clear with breaking the agreement and shamelessly requesting one of Alteas most important secrets – even though Lance wasn't entirely sure if Allura actually knew how the Lions had been created.

“Let me at least figure out how to locate… the prisoners. Please, Allura.”, Pidge had stepped up behind Lance. Her voice sounded calm but tight.

Allura nodded slowly. For the first time Lance realized how tired she looked. A few strands of hair had escaped her normally sleek bun and her eyes were red-rimmed.

“I know that this isn't an easy situation. I am not suggesting that we agree to the Galran's request – even if I were able to do so – but it is important that we act with great caution. We know that most of the prisoners are still alive and relatively well and we cannot endanger them by acting imprudently. If you, Pidge, could find out on which colonies they are held captive that would be very helpful. I will try to come to a different arrangement with Zarkon.”, she turned back to the letter and for a moment Lance could have sworn that he saw tears on her cheek.

He averted his eyes and shuffled his feet uncomfortably. A hand landed on his shoulder and Hunk squeezed his arm. Lance tried to smile at him but failed miserably.

“You may leave, paladins.”

Paladins: protectors, guardians, defenders, heroes… All the things they no longer were. Hunk dragged him out of the room before he could snap at Allura again but Lance swore that he wouldn't take this much longer.


	2. Chapter 2

Hunk and Lance settled on one of the tiny beaches outside the city. It was pleasently warm and the wind created gentle ripples on the otherwise calm river. Pidge had disappeared into her lab after the conversation with Allura and Hunk and Lance had been left to their own devices. It wasn't wise to go to far as they wanted to be there in case Pidge found out anything about the prisoner's whereabouts. Lance suspected that she had already researched before Allura had officially allowed it, so her search would hopefully be successful soon.

Usually the river had a calming effect on Lance. That was probably the reason why Hunk had dragged him there. Lance had grown up in the Altean countryside, close to the coast and far away from the capital. When the relationship between Altea and Galra had become strained and King Alfor had started to recruit soldiers, he had volunteered and moved to the training camps in the capital. He had started training when he was barely seventeen and was chosen by the blue Lion soon after. Back then he had felt like a hero.

Lance sighed and leaned back against the trunk of a tree. He closed his eyes, listening to Hunk rummage around in his bag. It could have been a peaceful but Lance's thoughts kept jumping back to the meeting with Allura. His mind replayed the words in the letter over and over again and it seemed that the anger inside him had come to stay. A few years ago he would not have hesitated to act on it. The Lance from before the war had done what he thought was right. That Lance had not known much about consequences. He was a bit wiser nowadays but it felt cowardly. They had abandoned their friends, their people all for the sake of a peace treaty that wasn't even real.

“Would you like a cookie?”

Lance cracked his eyes open and stared at the blueish sweet Hunk was dangling in front of his nose.

“No, I don't. I would like to get Blue and stick this stupid letter up Zarkon's ass. I would like to show the Galra that we aren't their little puppets. I would like get our friends back. I would like to be a proper paladin for once. That's what I would like to do.”

He knew that it wasn't fair to take his frustration out on Hunk but his head was boiling over with thoughts and he was tired of this. Hunk jerked his hand back and put it on his knee. He was silent for a while.

“I'm sorry. It's just how I feel.”, Lance offered after a few seconds and Hunk nodded, chewing on one of his cookies.

“I get it. I really do. But Allura has to think about Altea too. She is right. We can't afford another war and the people wouldn't support it. They've barely rebuild their homes and their workplaces. And you know as well as I do that we couldn't just march into Zarkon's palace and demand to get our people back. That would be a declaration of war. You know how the Galra operate.”, Hunk swallowed and grabbed another cookie. Lance watched him for a moment, then he let his head fall back against the trunk and groaned.

“But that's not the only thing. It's not just about us. A lot of the other planets are basically defenseless and I know that Zarkon promised King Alfor that he wouldn't harm the Natives as long as they didn't resist the Galran settlers or something but that's… that's just not right. How can you look at Shay when you know that we basically sold her people into slavery in order to ensure that our own planet is left alone? How can we look at anyone?”, he sat up again, his voice getting more agitated as he spoke.

“We were supposed to be Defenders of the Universe, not of Altea.”, Lance finished finally, tugging loose threads out of his shirt.

“Shay… I don't know.”

Hunk had stopped eating, his hands resting on his knees as he gazed into the sky, probably searching for the direction Balmera was in. Shay had fled from her planet at the beginning of the war. She was one of the few Balmerans who had stayed on Altea after the peace treaty, though Lance knew that she probably would have gone back if it wasn't for her relationship with Hunk. Mentioning her had been a low blow, even though Lance knew he was right. The Balmerans had helped the Alteans during the war and in the end it had only harmed them. It was a similar tale for many of the other planets in this solar system.

“I don't know what we are supposed to do, Lance. It seemed so clear before the war, didn't it? Destroy the rift, even if it meant to eliminate the entire planet. We destroyed people's homes back then too, we robbed children of their parents and I'm not saying it was easy because it wasn't. But at least we had a plan and we stuck to it. I was so sure that we were the good ones, that we saved people's lives. And now… I just don't know anymore...”, Hunk's voice grew quieter until it tapered off entirely. He rubbed his hands over his face and looked at Lance. “And I really miss Shiro, Keith, Matt. Believe me, if I knew how to save them, and Altea and Balmera and all of the other planets, I would. But I don't and it… It just really sucks.”, Hunk dropped his head into his hands and Lance squeezed his shoulder. Hunk had never wanted any of this, he hadn't even volunteered to be a soldier. Before the war, he had been a kitchen boy in the castle until Yellow had taken a liking to him.

“I know. And I don't know exactly what we're supposed to do but this can't be it. I just don't get how Allura can let this happen. She has to know that the Galra can't be trusted and she is just sitting here doing nothing at all to help anyone or at least to prepare!”

Hunk lifted his head and shook it slowly.

“She is doing something, Lance. Why do you think she keeps us around? Why are the training grounds open?”

Lance frowned. He hadn't really thought about it that way. Probably because he could barely remember a time of true peace.

“You think she is preparing for war?”

“I wouldn't call it preparing but I think she is trying to be ready.”, Hunk paused for a moment, his eyes grew distant and somewhat… sad. “Right after the war, I asked her whether I could leave and...”

“Wait what? Why?”, Lance sat up and gasped at his friend in shock. He was slightly offended that Hunk had never bothered to mention that he wanted to leave Voltron.

“Shay and I, we wanted to get married. Start a family in Balmera. We thought it was over, you know? We thought we could have a life together in peace.”

“I didn't know, Hunk. I'm sorry.”

After becoming a paladin, Lance had never really thought how his life would look after they had done their work. Going back to his family would be an option. He did miss them. But his work as a part of Voltron had been… fulfilling. It had been demanding and often disturbing but he had always felt that he was doing the right thing. And Hunk? Hunk had buried his dreams for his duty. Again and again. It didn't seem fair.

“So am I… What I wanted to say is that Allura told me that she didn't think the peace would last. That we would most likely get time to rest but not to settle. And so she asked me to stay… She probably hoped for a few more years but she is not stupid. She knows that the Galra are testing us.”, Hunk shrugged and looked up into the sky. “They are trying to figure out how much they can get out of us. If they can have Altea without much of a fight.”

“Oh. I didn't know... I just hope she decides something soon because I can't hang around here much longer and pretend to be okay with it. I get that we can't just jeopardize Altea or the lives of our friends and the other prisoners but if she gives in to the Galra's demands there won't be anything left to jeopardize.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that was somewhat logical and not too confusing? :)


	3. Chapter 3

_Three days later_

 

“I located a small number of Altean prisoners on Olkarion. They are apparently establishing some kind of colony under Galra's supervision.”, Pidge clicked a button and a picture of unfinished housing facilities appeared. She proceeded to zoom in and presented a few blurry images of what Lance assumed were said Alteans. Pidge's face was carefully empty as she presented the results of her research. He guessed that she hadn't slept much in the past three days it had taken her to find something and neither had anyone else. Allura didn't tell him how many letters she exchanged with Zarkon and his son and he wasn't sure if he wanted to know. Lance despised diplomacy. Or – more accurately – he despised the Galran Empire. Before the war it had been easy to hate because that's what he had been told. During the war it had been safer to nurse that hatred because everything else would have challenged his conscience in ways he could not bear to think about. The Galran Empire had never really consisted of people to him. It was a political entity they happened to be at odds with. It was Zarkon and his son. It was the place his friends and fellow Alteans were held captive at. It was the reason countless planets had lost their sovereignty and independence.

“I...I also found this.”

Lance glanced at a picture of a man with black and white hair and a scar across his nose, though he couldn't find anything particularly remarkable about it. The man did not look healthy but he hadn't expected anything else from the Galran Empire. They were not known to treat their prisoners fairly. He felt for any Altean who had to endure captivity but it was hypocritical to pretend to be outraged about the conditions now. They could have known all along if Allura had allowed Pidge to research earlier.

Hunk gasped next to him, his face had grown pale. “Please tell me that's not Shiro.”, he murmured after a few moments of stunned silence. Pidge nodded tightly and pulled up another picture, this one a full body shot.

“I ran photos of the prisoners through a facial recognition programme. That's how I found them. It's Shiro.”

Lance felt as if he was falling and Blue wasn't there to catch him. It was one thing to know that his friend had been prisoner of the Galra for more than three years, to imagine what they could do to him. It was entirely different to see it, even if the pictures were blurred. He hadn't even recognized Shiro. He remembered a young man with shiny black hair and smooth skin. He remembered someone who looked healthy and happy and alive. Lance's eyes roomed over the picture of the man, he took in Shiro's haggard face, the angry red scar, the purple shimmer around his right arm…

“What's wrong with his arm?”, he pointed to the image and Pidge did something to zoom in.

“I wasn't sure either. It could be a glove. Or a prosthesis.”, she commented finally.

Lance grabbed Hunk's elbow as he felt his friend shaking next to him. Somewhere beneath the shock, anger was coiling.

“Where did you locate Shiro?”, it was the first time Allura had said anything. Lance glanced her for a second before he returned his attention to Hunk. His friend had regained most of his composure, though his eyes looked red and moist. He didn't know how Hunk had managed to preserve his gentle nature during the past six years.

“That's the strange part. According to the data, he isn't in one of the colonies but on the main ship, the Palace of the Emperor.”, Pidge said and coordinates began to appear on the screen.

Lance swallowed hard. This was bad. And it was his fault too. He had played his part in this game and he feared that he couldn't even imagine how much his friends were paying for it.

“We have to get him out of there. He looks… He doesn't look as if...”, Hunk's voice broke and he turned his face away, into Lance's shoulder. Pidge nodded numbly, her gaze fixed on the screen, where she had pulled up the picture of Shiro again. Lance pressed his fingernails into his palm and put an arm around Hunk.

“Have you found Matt, Keith?”, his voice was too loud. Allura continued looking at the Shiro on the screen, tense and expressionless.

“No. I found a picture of Matt from two years ago but after that there is no trace of him.”

Pidge sounded detached, as if she was talking about a stranger and not her brother.

“I inquired about Keith. Unfortunately Lotor discovered Keith's Galra heritage and decided to treat him as a citizen of the Galran Empire – and therefore as a deserter- and not as Prisoner of War.”, Allura interjected calmly, smoothing her dress.

“What the hell? How dare they? He is part Altean too! He grew up here. They have absolutely no fucking right… How can you let this happen, Allura? How can you?”, Lance shook himself free of Hunk and stepped up to his Queen. She regarded him with a blank face, though if he had looked at her closely he might have seen the sadness behind her masquerade.

“My hands are tied, Lance. I am not going to start a war over a few hundred prisoners if it is not in the best interest of the majority of my people. We are prepared if the Galra attack us but as long as that does not happen I will continue trying to reason with them. I have already closed the trade routes and encouraged the few other free planets to do so as well.”, she paused for a moment and breathed out slowly. The Galra wouldn't change and they wouldn't start rethinking their demands. They probably couldn't care less about the trading stop because they were already preparing to invade Altea or something like that. For a Queen who had been at war with them, Allura was painfully ignorant. She had seen what they had done to Shiro. She had let them take Keith without a fight. He had always looked up to her, even fancied her when he was younger. Now he felt let down, disillusioned, powerless. Why had she even asked about Shiro and the others if she had no intention to help them in any way? He was ready to start screaming at her again, when she opened her mouth once more.

“I expected this outcome and even before Pidge's revelation I decided to release all the remaining paladins of their oaths to myself, the military and the kingdom. We will officially announce this shortly but you are hereby dismissed from service.”

“What? Seriously? The Lions chose us! Us! You can't just...”

“Exactly. The Lions chose you. Voltron is not part of the military forces of Altea, but you were. And this is all I will say on this matter.”, Allura left the room before he could say anything else, her long hair streaming out behind her.

Lance gasped and turned around to take in his friends's reactions. Hunk looked just as lost and shocked as he felt, only Pidge was smiling slightly.

“Oh come on, boys. Don't tell me you didn't get what she just did.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance says goodbye to his family.

The freedom to betray her. That was what Allura had offered them. They were no longer obliged to the Altean military. The lions were theirs to command. It sounded easy. That was what Lance had thought at first. Take the lions, liberate the prisoners, come back home. Only that it would not work that way. Once they left Altea, they would be on their own. Allura could not give them a free pass, she could simply deny her responsibility for their actions, mark them as outlaws. As long as no one could prove that they acted on her orders, the Galran Empire had no justification to attact Altea. At least that was what Hunk had said. Lance wasn't so sure.   
The only matter that they had agreed on was that they could not come back once they had left. If they wanted a chance at this, they had to cut their ties with Altea for the time being.

When he got the lion down on one of the soft, green meadows of his homeland, Lance came to say goodbye.  
During the war he had lived on board the mother ship with the other paladins. He hadn't been able to see his family for years, had not been there for the birth of his youngest sister. She was four now. He had missed them back then but at least he had known that he would be able to come back one day.  
Lance remembered the day he returned from the war. Almost three years ago, he had landed on this very meadow. He remembered air full of summer, the glow in his parent's eyes, the soft skin of his sister's tiny hands. It had not been perfect. How could it have been? The war had taken a toll on him. The place was the same but the time was not. The home he had longed for, was lost to the days of his youthful innocence. He could never return there. He had still been content, even happy. He remembered the days of his return with fondness and chose to ignore his nightmares, the deep lines in his parent's faces and the quiet caution in his sibling's eyes. He had left after a few weeks to go back to the capital. Allura had called them. In the past years, Lance had visited his family as often as he could but he had not stayed long. Maybe it had been for the better. He didn't belong here anymore, not the way he used to.

He patted Blue before he left for the house at the foot of the hill. He could see people, even from afar. His family had probably seen the lion descend from the sky and they were now coming up to meet him. Lance fastened his steps, nearly running. His oldest sister Lissa was the first to greet him and he pulled her into his arms, no longer able to swing her around like he used to do. They had all grown during the last few years. “Why didn't you tell us you were coming?”, her voice was breathless, happy. Lance smiled and turned around to greet the others. “I didn't know. Was kind of unexpected.”, he settled on after he could no longer hide in a hug. He had one day. It didn't seem fair but maybe that was what he had bargained for when he had accused Allura of doing too little. He didn't want to know how Hunk felt, saying goodbye to Shay.

“Well, you're in luck, son. We have a pie in the oven.”, his father said and clapped him on the shoulder, smiling warmly. His mother nodded and handed his youngest sister to him. He picked her up and let her climb onto his shoulder, even though she was starting to get too heavy for that sort of thing. “Nah, Gina? Glad to have your best brother back?”, he grabbed her ankles and started sprinted towards the house while she was screaming gleefully.

 

*

 

“So how long will you be staying, Lance?”, his mother's face was carefully empty when she put a second piece of pie on his plate. “Wanna get rid of me, mom?”, he put a hand to his heart in mock affront, though in truth he had dreaded this question. The whole flight long he had asked himself how he was supposed to explain to them what had happened. What he was going to attempt. There were no good answers. They would worry about him, no matter what he said. He knew that. But he didn't want to burden them anymore than he had to. He couldn't tell them the truth, that much he knew. It would only put them in danger if someone decided to question them. What else was there to tell? He had told them one white lie after another in the past six years. The tales he told about the war were empty stories about his heroic deeds, epic adventures, that barely resembled the truth anymore. Too many of the real stories were dark places. He loved them too much to let them dwell there with him.

“I actually have to leave in an hour or so.”, he grinned, all teeth and dimples and no heart. “I'm kind of on a little mission. Nothing to exciting. But I thought I'd say hi. You guys haven't seen me in all my “Defender of the Universe”-glory for a while.”, he winked at his siblings and patted his chest. He was in uniform, all polished up. It had been a while since the thing had seen anything but the training grounds. He didn't know how to feel about that.

His siblings were babbling, laughing, asking questions about Allura and Hunk and whether Lance finally found love in the capital. For a while he let himself drift into their conversation, the easy pull of normality too strong. After a while he noticed that his parents had fallen silent. They were watching him with thoughtful graveness and if something was known to make Lance very uncomfortable, it was this look.

“So. Did Shiro and Keith come back?”, his mother finally asked, a careful smile on her lips.

“No. They didn't.”, he stopped pulling at Gina's braids and his hands stilled in his lap. Lance swallowed and shook his head. “Not to worry, though. It will be a matter of days.”, he pulled Gina onto his knees and put his arms around her. “Listen, it's not likely or anything and I'm not worried, but just in case...”, he lifted his gaze, tried to smile all full of himself, all sure about the future. “It could – in a very unlikely scenario – be that the truce is not as secure as we thought. And I guess it could be, just maybe, be a good idea to save some extra grain or whatever. Just in case.”, he rocked Gina from side to side till she was giggling.

“If the Galra dare to do that I'm so gonna join the army!”, his sister proclaimed before anyone else had the chance to react and Lance… Lance hadn't expected that. A few years ago he would have been happy. Before the war, Lissa had been too young but they had planned to go together. They had imagined something great and heroic. And now, he realized, he didn't want her to go were he had gone. He didn't want her to change, to lose even a tiny spark of the light she carried inside.

“No, Lissa. Don't say that. It won't happen and even if, honestly, this family can't deal with more than one hero in shining armor.”, he tried to be light and brash but he sounded bitter, even to himself. “Anyway. I'm pushing it.”, he pointed at the clock over the kitchen table. They had left too many things unsaid. He could see it in his parent's stricken faces and in his sister's angry pout. For a few seconds he just said there, Gina in his arms and wondered whether he could do it. Whether he could get up and hug them and leave, when he knew that this time, he probably wouldn't come back. He had to. He owed it to Shiro, Keith, to his pride, to his planet and to things much bigger than any of this. That didn't make it easier.

 

*

 

“Next time you come visit, we will talk. Seriously, Lance.”, his father pulled him into a hug. They had followed him back to Blue, all of them. Somehow they had noticed that something was different even though he hadn't dared to tell them more than he did. In a few days they would probably believe him to be a traitor. He hoped that they wouldn't have to mourn him as one.

“Sure, dad. Promise.”, he forced himself to smile, to keep appearance. They didn't know. They couldn't know. And he couldn't promise them because for the first time in his life Lance didn't really believe that he would come back from this. Pidge, Hunk and him. No Shiro to guide them. No army behind them. And no Altea ahead. They were on their own.

“You better come back to me whole and healthy, my boy. You better do.”, his mother pressed him against her with all her strength and Lance let his head fall to her shoulder. “I...”, he paused for a second, swallowed once, twice. “I'll try my best, mom.”, he murmured finally and if there were tears in his eyes when he headed into his lion, it would stay between him and Blue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well. That wasn't quite what I had planned for this chapter. Things will probably start to happen in the next one but I'm slow and undecided, so who knows. Thanks for reading! <3


End file.
